MOSCOW — Several dozen ecologists protested outside a Russian environmental monitoring agency Wednesday, urging regulators not to back a proposed Siberian oil pipeline that would run close to Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake.

About 40 people demonstrated outside the agency, chanting "No to Oil! Yes to Baikal" and carrying signs that read "Keep Baikal Alive" and bore photographs of the world's only freshwater seals, which live in the lake.

Greenpeace activist Roman Vazhenkov charged that most scientists and federal monitors opposed the proposed route, which would take the pipeline less than 1 kilometer (1 mile) from the massive lake.

"Unfortunately, authorities, including this (agency), are pressing them into changing their mind," Vazhenkov said.

In November, the Natural Resources Ministry said state pipeline monopoly Transneft had proved that the techniques used in building the pipeline would not harm Baikal. On Jan. 26, however, a state environmental impact committee voted against the project, because of its proximity to the lake.

The Federal Ecological, Technological and Atomic Supervisory Agency, where the ecologists held their protest, was expected to make a decision in the next couple of months.

"This is a high-tech project, and accidents there are just impossible," Transneft Vice President Sergei Grigoryev was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "The project stipulates that not a single drop of oil will enter the ground, not to mention Baikal."

The Kremlin has backed the pipeline, which will increase oil exports to East Asia's energy-hungry economies.

The project's first stage is due to be completed in 2008, carrying 600,000 barrels daily to a location just 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the Chinese border.

Source: Associated Press